Eyes
by The Sky Sage
Summary: So long... so long since I had last seen him. Too long since I had last seen this 'heroic' speed demon. Not a word exchanged in a year, not a scrap of news other than "he's fine". I wanted answers. I wanted the truth. The truth, though, was uncalled for.


**The Dmgirl: **I came up with this out of completely nowhere. Took me two complete days to come up with this. I hope you guys like it.

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Sonic and company. They belong to Sega.

**Blind**

I hadn't seen him in months, two years to be exact. At the time, he had been a perky, carefree, and rather annoying fifteen-year-old teenager with a need for speed. He had been the embodiment of the wind, a daredevil that no one but himself could tame eventually.

I remember the day we last saw each other. He parted ways with me with a smile and a wave wishing me luck on my self-appointed mission. I scarcely heard of him through the multiple visits my friend gave. In the beginning, I had even received letters that I read when I could finally catch a break. They were the highlights of my days back then, bringing one of those rare smiles that I thought I could no longer produce.

However, one day, those letters simply disappeared. After three months of silence, I finally asked if there was any letter for me. My friend simply shook her head, but told me that he was doing fine, that he was still saving the world like the hero he was. I immediately blamed my own silence. How was I to expect a monthly letter if I didn't even reply? Of course, he knew how I was doing because my friend was on talking terms with the group he was part of, but it was wrong of me not to address him personally, to tell him how I was doing, how the reconstruction was going.

The next time my friend visited, the letter was in my hand, his name neatly written on the paper, a clear contrast against his bunched up scrawl. There was something that I had noticed long ago about me and him. We were opposites in everything we did, even in the way we spoke. Yet, there were still striking similarities between us that I had denied in the beginning, and it was this resemblance that had brought us together.

But, now, the differences were beginning to interest me to, dare I say it, a dangerous level. I found myself wanting to see him again, talk to him and watch him as he did his antics while chuckling internally. His letters had told me more than I ever wanted to see, hear from him. He was more mature than I had thought in the beginning. There was a reason for how he acted so childishly.

And, as I had promised myself, I gave the letter to my friend after our usual conversation, telling that there would be another for the next visit. She smiled, told me that she was glad that I was finally opening up, even if it wasn't to her, and left. I waited. Wrote and waited for the next letter with anxious anticipation. For four months, I waited for an answer that never came. Every time I would ask, she would simply shake her head and tell me that he had been happy about the new letter, but would never deliver another of those papers that always managed to make me feel better.

The last month, I didn't work, didn't move. I thought. I lied in my room and stared at the ceiling, searching for a plausible reason for him not to reply. It wasn't like him. From what I knew, he cared about everyone he met, and would try to keep contact, certainly when he had done so before. And he wasn't one not to, at least, kindly reply to anything sent to him. If he didn't want to keep contact, then he would have so said so in his last letter.

In the end, I could only confront my friend about the fact that he didn't reply. As former partners, I knew already that she would be hard to break, but I had to. I wanted to know, needed to know why there was no reply, no answer to my letters, even after four months.

The answer wasn't the one I expected. She fell to the floor and cried, leaving me to comfort her. As awkward as it was, I finally managed to calm down her tears, but not her anxiousness. She urged, practically begged me to return to the surface. Her eyes were fervent, feverish, nearly scaring me.

After she finally relaxed, she told me about something that could only reassure and worry me all at once. She was expectant, waiting for her first child. Her lover had been ecstatic at the news, and had nearly convinced her to stay until the baby was born. Nevertheless, she had told her lover that she needed to visit me one last time to explain why she wouldn't come for the next nine months. She also finally told me the truth. The hero wasn't dead, but not as well as she had told me. Yet, the only way I would be able to get more information was if I went to the surface. She had promised him not to say, and she was already transgressing. So my only choice was to return to the planet the humans called Earth.

The first moments had been tough on my ears. Going from a silent environment to a bustling city wasn't exactly the best transition. Yet, the Commander had insisted on installing the transport shuttles there. I have still to figure out why. Still, since my transport would be mostly done by train and I was headed to the Mystic Ruins, I wouldn't have to endure this noise for too long, save for the change of train at Station Square. And those changes tended to take a lifetime.

I was surprised, though, at the number of people that recognized me in throughout the voyage. From small children to elders, most pointed my direction and murmured amongst themselves, asking each other if I was really who they thought I was. There was even a boy, no more than five years of age, who summoned the courage to talk to me. Under the cautious eye of his mother, we talked a bit, and I was able to gather information about the hero's activity. He was still saving the world and traveling it, which only made me worry at the fact that I might not find him where I was going, but one fact stuck at the back of mind and I pondered on it longer than I originally thought.

In the past year, there hadn't been any sonic boom, no sudden breaks of the sound barrier. But Sonic was in proximity, wasn't he? There should have been, at least, a sonic boom that morning, since he always went for a run when he woke up. So why the silence? And in over a year, for that matter.

It was with apprehension that I finally reached the house that I knew to be Tails'. The home had gotten bigger than the last time I had seen it, probably due to the fact that the young fox needed more space for his inventions. I could only hope that they were home, and not breaking their necks in some crazy adventure. If the latter just happened to be true, then it would only mean disappointment, and more time to wait until I could finally see the one I had called an idiot so many times.

Fortunately, my knocks were answered by the door opening, and a greasy, but smiling Tails greeted me inside before calling out to him and telling me to have a seat. It took every bit of me to act as emotionless as I had once. These past two years had changed me, brought out a little more of the me before Maria had died. Then again, Tails hadn't seemed as scared as once had been. Maybe I could have, if not smiled, at least not scowl.

"Hey Shadow!"

Yet, if time had changed me, it seemed as if it only had a physical effect on him. Even if his peach and cobalt fur remained the same color, he had grown taller. He even looked more mature than what I remembered. And his perky personality hadn't changed a bit.

"You want something to drink? Water, soda?" he said was he headed off for the kitchen.

"No, thank you."

That smile had gotten out unintentionally. I was glad Tails wasn't around.

"You sure? Takes me a second, tops," he insisted with his usual smile.

"I'm rather certain that I didn't come here for a drink, Sonic. I came here to have some news."

I knew that, with him, I'd have to sit my position, else he'd run the conversation as the dominant person he was. It had always been one of the major reasons we fought, and we both knew that.

So I was surprised when he sat next to me without a sound, taking the other end of the couch while looking at me.

"News? I thought Rouge was the provider of those. You told me you wouldn't come down..."

"Unless I was done or there was an emergency," I cut him off. "I know what I said, Sonic, and I came down because I thought there was one."

"Nonsense, everything's fine down here."

"Then why did Rouge tell me you weren't well?"

Silence was my answer. His head lowered as his fingers fidgeted. I expected him to turn, turn and look at me before he asked his next question.

"How did you manage that?"

Instead, his head stayed low as he waited for his answer, body trembling enough for only me to catch. He was usually the first one to seek contact, may it be by touch or sight. And he knew his limits with me. He couldn't touch me unless we were in a fight, so he'd look at me. He wouldn't avoid contact, he wouldn't purposely keep his eyes away from me.

"Sonic, look at me."

Slowly, reluctantly, his face turned to me and I saw his eyes, those brilliant emeralds that I had missed, I discovered. To have the hero look at you meant, may it be rival, friend or enemy, that he acknowledged you, that he knew you existed and respected you. It was a feeling that I hadn't lived in two years.

"Sonic?"

I could only frown at the sight. Yes, his eyes looked as radiant as they had ever had, but something was off. His pupils didn't move as I waved my hand, and he flinched as I reached out to touch him, a reaction that would have never happened if he could see.

"Sonic, can you…?"

I didn't have to continue. He shook his head sadly before talking.

"I got in an accident a year ago. Big fight with a robot. Didn't end too well. According to the doctors, I was lucky it was just my eyesight."

I didn't reply. I couldn't. What could I say? That everything was going to be alright? Now wouldn't that be a lie. Sonic had lost his sight, his freedom, his only chance of living up to his name. How could he pass the sound barrier if he couldn't see? How could he even write? I understood suddenly the lack of letters, why Tails hadn't been as scared. The young fox had probably read the letters to Sonic since he couldn't read them himself. And since he wouldn't want to bother the boy with what he called unnecessary things…

"Get up."

He only blinked as I stood, his expression going from sad to confused.

"What?"

"I said, "Get up"," I repeated while yanking him to his feet before dragging him outside despite his protest. I didn't even let him go as he punched me in the arm.

"You are so pushy!"

"So says the one who has taken me halfway across the world with his insane stunts."

"Never heard you complain," he said while managing to free his hand from mine. "Are we outside?"

Remarkable. He had managed to guess where we were even though he was blind. He could figure out where he was by the scent, the sounds surrounding him. In one short year, he had adapted into his new body, to the fact he couldn't see.

"Where do you want to go?"

Still, I couldn't let my first idea fly away. I needed to stand my ground.

"What?"

"Where do you want to go?" I repeated, amused. Hard to think the sensitivity of his ears had actually increased if he kept making me say the same things over and over.

"What are you talking about?"

There was only one way he'd understand, I guessed, and I took his hand gently before asking again. He might not be able to see, but I was. And since both of us could easily pass the sound barrier, there was a chance we could actually run along each other.

There was no puzzlement left in those eyes, only revelation and maybe the slightest hint of appreciation. And I couldn't help but smile. Even though his gaze stayed fixed on a point I couldn't see, even though all he say was the night, they were still the perfect windows to his soul, like they had always been.

"Green Hill. Take me to South Island."

I stared at the ocean, trying to figure how to get a head start and make sure that my charge wouldn't drown. I wasn't carrying him. It would have been too degrading, too emasculating for him to bear.

I stepped back until I reached the lake, then ran, ran until no ground but water was under me, nearly to the point breaking the surface, but not enough to do so. I could only spare one look behind me to check, and feel my worries disappear. He was running behind me, probably feeling the wind pressure. And he was smiling, grinning like old times. For a moment, I could almost be fooled in believing that it was the one I had been with, traveled for a lifetime with.

The sonic boom resounded around us, and I had to turn back, look ahead and the land masses, the islands that passed us by. I had to make sure we arrived safely at South Island, to Green Hill.

When the checkered hills came into sight, we were already on land and the hero was running besides me, his grip on my hand loosening and his speed only accelerating. There was nothing left for me to do. I let him go, slowing down as he ran faster and faster, leaving only a blur of his passage. I understood upon his shouts of joy and calls of glee why he had chosen this place. It was probably the one place he knew so well, he could roll along those hills with his eyes closed. Sonic the hero was home, and he could form one with the wind, even challenge it to his heart's content. He could run without assistance, without the worry of bumping into a tree he hadn't seen or be taken aback by a sound he hadn't heard.

My gaze went to the hand that had held his, and, for once, not repressing the small surge of Chaos Energy running up my arm. It was still him, that was clear. Only him could set my Chaos Sense on alert without the presence of a Chaos Emerald close. He was the equivalent, and Chaos only knew of what his body was truly made of. Had his parents even known what they had given the world?

"Shadow."

I turned around at the call of my name, and saw an exhausted, but happy Sonic. His quills seemed better, less weighed down and flowing in the breeze. His grin could have matched the one of a Cheshire cat. If he had looked rather well in Tails' home, he looked better in the light of the Hills. It was almost as I was standing again with the older Sonic, the one I had left behind.

"Yes? You already want to go back?"

"Ho, ho, you wish. I'm just getting started. Just need to catch my breath."

I didn't miss the way those ears perked, nor the way those lips upturned as I freed an unwanted chuckle. I couldn't help myself. He had changed me with his letters, with the motivation he kept giving in every word. He had, dare I say it, made me better and a stronger person for it.

"Are you chuckling?" came the obvious question that I refuted immediately, making him laugh as he turned away.

"You know… Thanks for the letters. I'm sorry I had to let Tails in on them, though. I didn't really have another choice. And I'm sorry that I stopped writing. I just couldn't anymore."

His words had me looking at him. His smile hadn't left, but his eyes had lost a bit of their luster. He wished he had kept contact. He had never wanted to sever the connection that he had been forced to cut.

"I was surprised when Rouge came in with the first letter. I never thought I'd see the day where you'd open up to someone. I honestly felt special every time Tails and I would sit down and read one of them. And when my best buddy asked me if I wanted to reply… It took me three days to finally say no. I just didn't know how you'd take the fact that I couldn't write those letters by myself anymore, how you'd take the news about my eyesight, and, mostly, I didn't want to bother Tails more than necessary. I didn't know how much it meant to you… until you showed up."

The deep, shaky breath he took only alerted me more than his speech had. He was apologizing for the time he hadn't answered, that he had thought better to leave it alone. He felt terrible for the time he had neglected what he saw now as a greater friendship than it was before, because it was returned.

"Isn't it you who says to live with no regrets?" I responded while staring at the hills. "I think it's a good thing you didn't reply. If you had, I probably wouldn't have tried to come back. I'm not sure exactly how I would have dealt with the news, but I prefer seeing it for myself, that is certain."

I didn't need to look. The stirring in the surrounding Chaos Energy was enough to tell me that he was happy, even pleased with my answer. And when I did, he was in a relaxing position, hands behind his head.

"Say Shadow…"

"Yes?"

"How about a race? You know, for old time's sake," he laughed. "I know it has only been two years, but it feels like an eternity since the last time I had a good one."

"First one to the bank?"

I chuckled at the sound of his gasp.

"Not refusing? That's a first!"

"Do you want that race or not?" I snapped, just for sake of those old times he was looking for. And I think I managed when he laughed and smirked, turning his shoulder.

"Not because I'm blind that you have to go easy on me. Green Hill is my backyard, pal," he said as he crouched, clearly getting ready.

"In that case, we're even," I merely replied. I didn't know the terrain, but, contrary to him, I could see.

"You'll be biting my dust, Shads," he chuckled.

"Say, Sonic…"

"Hm?"

"If you win, I'm staying."

The moment he froze, I took off, laughing lightly. Let him catch up with me. Let him understand what I meant as he tried his best to find me as I skated ahead. Let him figure out that I was actually willing to leave the ARK until his friends and he gave their last breath.

When I met him, he had been nothing more than a diehard teenager, and I had found him annoying. An annoying little brat not worth the dirt on my shoes. It wasn't until a year ago that I had realized how much he wasn't. He wasn't the kid I had portrayed, that I had believed he was. I had finally understood why he acted the way he did, and I had changed. Without realizing, he had made me move on.

He passed besides me like a bullet, shouting like a madman. I already knew the outcome. I was going to lose. I was going to let him run ahead and reach the bank a little before did. Then, when we'd pass onto the water, I would take his hand and take him somewhere else. I would run around the world with him just to see him smile.

Sonic, you know that I have changed. You know the effect your letters had because you heard me laugh and didn't hear me refuse you for this race. But you don't know just how much. You know the profound effect you had on me, and, I swear to Maria, I will show you. I will stay and make sure you never look the way you did on that couch when I saw you. And maybe, just maybe, one day, I'll find the strength to say the words I haven't said in over fifty years. You are one of my best friends, Sonic, maybe even more.


End file.
